Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Weekend

I couldn't really write great weekend, and I couldn't really write weekend blues. SO we'll just call this the uninspiring title of "weekend". Saturday after lunch we headed down into the metro and towards the Musee d"Armee to see their stuff. We were excited because a special exhibit on how Napoleon changed the face of Europe had opened just the day before - Revelation class here we come. Now bare in mind that everyone says "buy your tickets ahead of time online" so we did, we bought our tickets ahead of time online. For the Napoleon exhibit there was a time limit - you had to get into the exhibit during the 45 min time slot that was printed on your ticket. So we had to get in between 1pm & 1:45, no problem - we left the house by 12:20 and were laughing. Until we got off the metro and promptly walked in a giant circle. Google maps is great....when it actually makes sense! Finally we got there, a few minutes late but we were still "okay".

Now bare in mind that we thought we had to be through the exhibit in that time period, not just get in - so you can place that stress behind the rest of this paragraph. So for those who haven't been - this place is HUGE. giant. mega-city of a building, and we are looking for the special exhibit, following signs that point both to the left and straight ahead! oy - frustration much. We're now 20 min late by the time we drag the kids up the 4 floors (no elevator) to the exhibit. So they scan our 2 adult tickets and ask for the kids passes. The kids are free, I explain...and they say yes BUT YOU HAVE TO PICK UP THEIR FREE PASSES AT THE TICKET COUNTER. You have GOT to be kidding, they are obviously under 18. There was no option to get the kids tickets online (which I also explain) and now we have to go back to the entrance (which will take about 10 min) and then wait in line with the other fifty or so sorry people that never purchased their tickets online! Yeah I was mad. So Magoo and Helper and I ran there while Daddy brought the 2 littlest girls, and Magoo got in line while I got to use my french and beg the lady at the information booth to help us.

No, Non, No! No they will not print out the kids free FREE passes for us there, yes we have to wait in line, no they will not extend the time limit on our exhibition passes. Yes we will have to purchase new ones if the time runs out on them to the tune of 8.50 Euros ($12) each. So we all are now in line and I admit I am not feeling rather Christlike or Christ minded at all. So we are deciding what we are going to write to them on their website and such. So not impressed. So by now we only have about 15 min left on our passes, and there are at least 30 more people still in front of us, as the museum only has 2 ticket booths open. OPEN ON THE BUISIEST WEEKEND IN PARIS. So the information lady must have been watching us and our slow progression, so she then pulled us out of line, and got the lady at one of the booths to print out the kids tickets. We were thrilled, and off we literally ran up the flights of stairs (with a stroller, diaper bag, and everything else since the elevator was only for disabled and not for mothers with strollers) and we just made it in with about 5 minutes to spare.

Impressed with the service - Non
Impressed with the exhibit - Oui

At the door I asked and they said that since we made it in we could take as long as we would like. Which was great, cause we were wondering what we would see in a grand total of 300 seconds otherwise.

What helped the kids enjoy the exhibit was that they had special pamphlets for kids and though only in French, they could still do the seek and find one on the last page. There was so much to see! And in relation to the prophecies we had great chats about how God used Napoleon to punish and get rid of the Holy Roman Empire.

So then after that we walked through rooms and rooms of swords and guns and uniforms. Magoo was thrilled (which we great because this was instead of Parc Astrix-long story there). Unfortunately we couldn't go through the WW2 section as we had already been 3.5 hrs and the girls were exhausted and bored. So we went to the cafe for coffee and snacks. SO glad that I packed snacks as just to get 2 cappuchinos (coffee is not an option most places) and a small brownie was 12 euros! nearly 20$! so the kids had a great snack of tucs smothered in nutella and pineapple juice instead :-)

Sunday we stayed at home and got ready for Meeting. which involves processing four rather dirty children! I will spare you the details. But the one funny thing was that over a week ago I had purchased knee highs (since it is so cold here right now) for Sunday Meeting and literally a couple minutes before we left - in other words the kids were all getting their coast and shoes on, I went to put them on only to discover that they were nylons made for someone only about 4 ft tall! So Mummy had seconds to change her outfit......ahh the joys of a second language - oh well Helper now has some genuine French nylons to wear :-) We left about an hour before it was to start since we had a transfer to make on the Metro and some lines were closing as of today for repairs.

We got there in time, and it was lovely to meet with other brethren and sisters, from mainly the UK, France, and the USA. We sung the hymns in French and one reading was also in French, but the rest was in English....so I should have been able to follow it but by the time we started Sausage needed her nap and so we kept having to leave and walk her around and around.

They had prepared refreshments for afterwards - what a spread! and it was great on a the practical side of things since we ended up not getting home til 7:20pm. We visited and chatted with just about everybody, and Mummy play translator between our oldest three and 2 young girls that had come with their grandfather.

Monday was finally a warm day - nearly 8C. we had no plans so the day started as usual, but I must admit that I had a bit of a fall apart attack. The loneliness is really hard some days and keeping these kids happy and out of trouble is harder work then at home. What tipped it off was that Sausage almost grabbed a bowl of boiling soup off the table (she can reach the dinning room table here because it is so low) and I just about had a heart attack. Anyways that's over with. we went out around 3 and had a lovely walk along the river all the way to the fancy bridge (Pont Alexander) with the golden statues....and they had set up a antique market so of course we had to have a boo and in the end we enjoyed the experience but all we bought was a bag of carmel corn to share and we walked back stopping at the Louvre for the bookshop (since we can send books home with Dad & Mum B this weekend) but ended up with just 2 wee things, 1 for when we go around it and 1 for homeschooling - a paper 3D model of the house where Leonardo DaVinci lived and worked.

Cafe and pre-packed snacks (such a money saver) and we headed for home around 6pm. All in all we walked just over 5km, and the children didn't complain - it was great. On the way home I realized that I had forgotten to pop the roast in before we left so instead we had frozen pizza.

Well today is the start of a new week. Jobs to do, Adventures to be planned....

Until next time
(for those linked with us on facebook - there are more pics up there under mobile uploads as our camera is out of juice!)